by paullawblog | Apr 19, 2015 | Estate Planning
At its most basic, estate planning is preparing for the end of life. It is a difficult, but necessary topic. Estate planning typically involves creating a comprehensive plan that accounts for the following issues. Property Creating a plan to distribute property is the...
by paullawblog | Apr 12, 2015 | Estate Planning
A Crummey trust, also known as an irrevocable gift trust (“IGT”), is a type of irrevocable trust. A Crummey trust is designed to help reduce estate tax liability by utilizing an individual’s annual gift tax exemption. However, a Crummey trust, like most irrevocable...
by paullawblog | Apr 5, 2015 | Estate Planning
The estate tax, or “death tax,” is a hot topic in estate planning. However, today, the estate tax does not impact most people. For much of history, the estate tax had a relatively low exemption and a high top tax rate. For instance, from 1942 to 1976, the exemption...
by paullawblog | Mar 29, 2015 | Estate Planning
Missouri Asset Protection (“MAP”) trusts are a type of irrevocable trust. As the name suggests, a MAP trust is designed for asset protection. In sum, a MAP trust, like most irrevocable trusts, requires a settlor to sacrifice control in exchange for asset protection....
by paullawblog | Mar 22, 2015 | Estate Planning
The testamentary trust is an estate planning device that is particularly attractive to young couples with young children, who often have limited assets. Typically, spouses are the legal and/or named beneficiaries of each other’s assets. If one spouse dies, the other...
by paullawblog | Mar 15, 2015 | Estate Planning
The revocable living trust is one of the most useful devices in estate planning. If your assets are significant and cannot be adequately distributed through the use of non-probate transfers for personal and real property, you should seriously consider a revocable...
